A/N: Super duper sorry for the super late update, I have an excuse but I bet you don't want to hear it. Thank you so much for Reviewing/ Faving I love you guys. Oh and I just wanted to say as a warning that this fanfic is M-rated for a reason and in the coming chapters things will probably heat up so just saying if you aren't here for mature content then I have no idea why you're here. now without further ado- wait...

Disclaimer: All characters and stuff belongs to Tite kubo not me I'm just an Owl.

Chapter 8

Orihime's POV

I'm doodling on a napkin at the bakery after school. Akari-san is flipping through a magazine while chewing gum. She's been grumbling for the past hour about how boring this bakery is sometimes. It's part of my job to greet whoever comes in with a bright smile whenever Akari-san gets this way.

I think about the party tomorrow and as expected a smile creeps onto my face when I remember that Ichigo-kun is going to be there. I close my eyes and picture what it would be like. A blush warms my face when I think about seeing him there.

That's when I realise I have no idea what I'm wearing tomorrow! I gasp out loud and then groan. I planned everything except of course what I'll be wearing. I don't know if I have anything in my closet to fit the occasion. It wouldn't be a big deal normally except Kurosaki-kun is going to be there!

"What's wrong?" Akari-san says from her seat. I sigh a bit and say in my most convincing cheerful tone. "Nothing's wrong" I smile to add effect.

"Don't give me that, everything has been lifeless until a minute ago. Today is so boring whatever it is will probably be the highlight of my day. Now tell me what's up?"

I smile knowing that there's no way I could have escaped unnoticed by Akari-san. "Well it's really not that big of a deal. It's just that I've forgotten to get myself something to wear for Tatsuki's birthday party tomorrow"

Her eyes light up as if I had just told her Santa is on his way. "OH MY GOD! Do you know what that means?" She waves her hands maniacally around her head.

"Uhmm...that I'll have to wear a potato sack tomorrow?"

"No! We're going shopping!" She claps her hands and snatches her bag of the counter.

"What? but we can't just leave! We don't close till another three hours!" I say to her but at this point she isn't listening anymore. She's closing up the shelves and switching off the appliances. "Orihime-chan i have the key for a reason you know." she jiggles them excitedly in front of me.

"Uhmm but we could get in trouble with the owner and I don't want you to get in trouble for me and besides I could probably find something to wear in my closet." I feel a warm tug at my heart to think that she would risk getting in trouble with our boss just to help me out.

"Nonsense! First of all no one's getting into any trouble because that old geezer we call a boss can only move from his couch to the fridge and secondly it would be my absolute pleasure to go shopping with you... like seriously I have nothing better to do." She smiled showing all her teeth.

I was still unsure but she put on a puppy dog face and I couldn't say no to her. After taking of my apron and locking up. Akari-san and I walked up to the train. We took a seat beside the window right beside an old man who looked asleep.

"You know I love doing things like this" Akari-san said smiling softly.

"Doing what?" I asked.

"You know girl things, shopping and...whatever, it makes me feel young again. I mean it has been a while since I've gone to the mall with anyone besides Hiro-chan, single mom and all that". I cautiously ask what has been on my mind since I first met Akari-san and her son Hiro-chan.

"Where's Hiro-chan's dad?"

"Well uhmm he's dead. He died in prison" She smiled sadly. My eyes must have been wide because she laughed and said bitterly. "He was no good right from the start and I'm just glad he was put away before Hiro-chan was born. I made sure that he never laid a hand on Hiro-chan." Her face suddenly darkened. My heart just broke right then.

I can't believe I never asked about Akari-san's life! I'm so horrible! I throw my arms around her and hug her tightly.

"I'm so sorry Akari-chan! I'm so-so sorry!"

Somehow the situation switched and she ended up being the one comforting me. The old man sleeping on his seat got up and moved to another seat a bit annoyed at my blatant display of emotion.

"Orihime-chan, we're here" I wiped my face and looked at Akari-san who was smiling warmly at me.

"Come on let's go" she said pulling me up and through the open train doors. As we walked into the mall Akari-san's earlier excitement came back.

"So just what are we looking for? And who are we trying to impress?"

A blush heats up my face "No one! I'm not trying to impress anyone" I replied with my hands waving about as if to blow away my embarrassment.

"Yeah right. First of all Orihime you're a girl of course there's a boy who's caught your eye and hey it's fine if you're too shy to tell me who it is but I think I have an idea who it is. Anyways what kind of dress are we looking for?"

"A nice one" I say trying to calm down my beating heart.

"Obviously a nice one but how are you supposed to show up? Are we looking for a formal ball gown? A light informal dress?" She said gesturing wildly with her hands.

"Oh it's semi-formal." I say remembering what Tatsuki's mum had told me.

"Perfect now let's hunt!" She snatched my arm and pulled me into a store.

2 hours later

Breathe. Just breathe. They can't all be worse that the ones I've tried on already, I tell myself but then I remember the last dress I had just tried on. It was made of leather! Leather! The one before that was nothing but net. Akari-san was losing her patience with the store keeper.

"I don't want her to look like a cheap hooker! I said seductively innocent" she said loudly to the terrified storekeeper.

"We're terribly sorry madam but that's a very… uhmm vague request?" he squeaked.

"If you want something done do it yourself! Let me through you nincompoop" She pushed the man out of the way and raked though the stalls herself.

I felt sorry for the storekeeper, after all he was just trying to help. "I'm sure we'll find something beautiful here" I say smiling at him. It seemed to have cheered him up because he smiled in gratitude and excused himself.

"Okay I get it! You have this hot, nice girl look that works for you. So let's stick to that but we'll throw some hot sauce on it!" she comes back and thrusts about ten dresses into my arms and closes the curtains again.

So I tried on all of them one at a time. They were all nice and not too...revealing. Akari-san was the inspector; she kept turning them all down, one at a time. 'It doesn't match your eyes' or 'It makes your head look big' I had no idea about the first thing about shopping so I just took her word for it and I was so glad she had such reliable taste.

After taking off the seventh dress because 'It flattens my boobs' I find the perfect one. It was without a doubt perfect. The dress was white with a blue pattern just like my Shun Shun Rikka. I try it on without a second thought and I burst out of the changing room with a wide smile. The neckline doesn't dip too low and it's not ridiculously short. Akari-san agrees.

"Oooh I love it! Turn around let me see the whole thing!" She says clapping her hands. I spin around with my arms spread out.

"Really Orihime; I love it! Are you okay with it being backless?"

Wait what? I look over my shoulder and my jaw drops. It is backless! Right down to my lower back! The only thing holding it together from the back is a small blue bow right at the center of my back. How did I miss that while I was trying it on? Really?! But it's still perfect, and I feel like I ought to step out of my zone a little bit. So I smile at Akari-san and pull up a thumbs up.

"I love it" I say sincerely.

"Good! Let's get out of here" She says while packing up her stuff. Although I insist that she doesn't have to, she pays for the dress. We walk out of the shop and I animatedly tell Akari-san about everything planned for the party. But then she looked down at her watch and gasped.

"Oh my God! I have to pick up Hiro-chan from Soccer practice!" She runs ahead waving back at me.

"I'll come by your place before the party to help you get ready! Bye!" She yells while running out of the mall. I wave until she is out of sight and then wander around the mall on my own. Tomorrow is going to be absolutely fun and terrifying.

Ichigo's POV

It's three am and no matter how much I wander the town nothing is happening at all. I have no choice but to go home and sleep. But the problem with sleeping is that I know I'll dream of her, I just know it. Apparently I am a huge pervert because my dreams always turn out to be quite inappropriate... but hot as fuck. It still feels wrong to be having dreams like this with Inoue when she only sees me as a friend but I can't fucking help it. That's why I bought that crappy book, for the 'maybe' or the 'what if'.

'Maybe she could love me too'.

'What if we could have something more?'

Fuck I sound pathetic even to myself. I enter my bedroom from the window and change back to my human form. Kicking Kon off the bed I slide under the blankets and try to get whatever little sleep I'm permitted to get tonight.

The second I close my eyes I see her face except she's not smiling like I expected her to be. She's crying and I don't know what to do about it. I reach out to wipe her face but she flinches away from me. Why is she afraid of me? I look down at my hand and I am shocked to see that my hands are pale white with claws instead of nails. Horrified I touch my cold face and I reach up to see that I have horns! Fucking horns!

I am literally a monster, the monster that lost control in my fight against Ulquiorra. I start to back away from Inoue; the least I can do is not hurt her. Her terrified expression shifts to confusion. I take two more steps away from her. Why shouldn't she be scared of me? I-I'm a...

"Kurosaki-kun?" she says taking a tentative step closer to me. No, she shouldn't come closer. Why isn't she running? In three more steps she reaches me and we're right in front of each other. I should flash step or whatever out of here but I can't turn away from her. She reaches out and lightly brushes her fingers against my chest and in the coldness i feel the fire her fingertips bring.

"Are-are you there, Kurosaki-kun?" She says in almost an inaudible whisper but i still hear her. Fuck I can even hear her heartbeat right now but that's it, I can't hear mine, it's because I don't have one. I'm just a monster. I'm about to take a step back but she closes the distance between us before i could even move. She looks up at me with her soft chest pressed flush against my hollow chest.

"It's you isn't it?" Her steel grey eyes are burning into me and I can't move away from her gaze. In this state I can't even form words to reply, to tell her that my whole body is vibrating just because she's this close to me.

"You're in here somewhere" she says quietly as she presses her lips to my shoulder. I think I make a sound that encourages her to touch me more because her fingers start slowly roaming to every part of me she could reach. My whole body started humming as if she was bringing me back to life. It was as if blood had started flowing through my cold hollow body because of her touch.

I couldn't hold myself back anymore, carefully without hurting her I grab her lower waist and gently lift her up. She wraps her legs around me and looks down at me lovingly. A small part of me is horrified with what a monster like me is about to do to sweet innocent Inoue right here in the barren deserts of Hueco mundo (At least that's where I think we are)but I can't stand another second without touching her. She starts kissing my neck so softly switching between nipping gently and sucking the spot, I groan loudly, she's driving me absolutely wild. "Do you feel that Kurosaki-kun?" she said breathlessly, stroking the side of my face.

"Don't stop" I growl. I don't know why but I can talk now, my skin tingles and I realize my mask is crumbling of. She literally brought me to life. Carefully I lay her down on the sand and hover over her. She slowly trails her fingers up my arms and then laces them behind my neck.

I look at my arms and see that the paleness that marked me as a hollow has faded leaving my natural skin tone. I slowly lower myself down and kiss her just as slowly, like I want to savor her taste. Without thinking about it, my hand slides down her thigh and I gently stroke her exposed thigh. She giggles softly and wraps her legs round my waist. I start leaving kisses down her delicate jaw line, down to her neck and then to her collar bone. Inoue runs one of her hands through my hair gripping it a little and pulling me closer to her.I moved one of my hands from her thighs to her chest and cup her breasts through the fabric of her dress.

Inoue moans and arches her back of the sand. She wraps her arms tighter around me bringing me closer to her. She kisses my ear and playfully nibbles on it. In a breathy tone she whispers my name "Kurosaki-kun"

"Yes?"

She moans and says my name again bringing shivers up my spine. "Ichigo, wake up"

What?

No.

I try to hold on to the dream but it slips out of my grasp and I'm staring at the ceiling of my room.

"Are you awake? For real this time? No more uhmm grunting?" I turn to see Kon staring at me with a nosebleed.

"Why are you staring at me?"

I felt it before he even pointed. There's a very noticeable tent in my pants, just great. I turn to my side to hide it and groan loudly. Just great, just perfect.

"Listen Kon, If you ever tell anyone I will kill you, really I will" I use a pillow to cover my obvious boner. Getting up awkwardly I brace myself for the hard part, going down the hall without bumping into anyone.

After a cold shower, I walk into my room and crash on my bed. Uggh I need a mental checkup or something. I am officially the highest form of pervert out there.

"Aren't you going to get ready?" said Kon from the other side of the room.

"For what?" I ask a little bit confused.

"The uhmm party?" Kon said. Party? Since when am I invited to parties?

Oh fuck Inoue's -I mean Tatsuki's surprise party. Shit I have to be there in- I look at my wall clock, ten minutes! I get up and run out of the door, but then I run back in. I can't go like this! I'm wearing a plain T shirt and sweats. With speed that would make Byakuya freak I empty my closet searching for a single nice shirt but I know I don't have any of those. I throw on a simple black long sleeved shirt instead and wear one of my decent jeans. I run out of the room again only to run back in when I remember Tatsuki's gift. Snatching the book (unwrapped) from my study desk. I run out again.

I run to Tatsuki's house in record time. I know I haven't missed the part where we jump out and yell surprise because as I approach the door I see the lights still turned off. Trying to catch my breath I knock on the door twice and wait for someone to let me in. Keigo opens the door and doesn't say anything except pull me in.

"You are late dude! She's almost here. Go on hide somewhere" He pushes me into the dark room and leaves me standing right in the middle. Really is hiding necessary? I sigh and move to hide behind the couch. There's enough light for me to make out the way without breaking anything. I crouch and keep quiet like everyone else.

"I'm so glad you came" I heard someone whisper right beside me. I instantly knew it was Inoue. Before I can reply I hear footsteps outside the door. It's Tatsuki and Andou, I figure.

"Calm down the doctor said it's just four broken bones" I heard him say.

"Four broken bones! How did she get that by taking out the garbage?! You said she slipped and fell" Tatsuki's voice sounded worried and scared.

"She'll be fine, you don't have to go in there freaking out" He said. I'm pretty sure it wasn't part of the plan to scare the shit out of the birthday girl.

"What?! How can I not freak out! Step out of the way you crazy Idiot!" She said and we all hear what sounded like Tatsuki pushing Andou. The door burst open and Tatsuki stormed in and yelled in a voice like a Spartan.

"Mom! Are you Okay?! Answer me! Please!" Right then everyone jumped out of their hiding place and yelled,

"Surprise!"

Except me of course I was laughing at the animalistic growl Tatsuki just made. When I composed myself enough to get and join everyone else. I was greeted with a sight I would probably never forget.

A/N: Next chapter is the party! IT's not going to be a long wait this time I promise (unless I die of course, then its gonna be a looooong wait)

So let me know what you guys thought of this, are the dreams starting to get annoying? I don't know, I kinda like the teasing. The real deal will come eventually so brace yourselves!

Till next time!